This time of year I’ve noticed that Carlos gets a little depressed. Even though we celebrate Christmas in every way imaginable, Christmas Eve has never been spent doing more than wrapping gifts I forgot to wrap, going to a religious service, and then trying to shove the kids off to bed with threats that Santa Claus will skip our house.

In El Salvador, Christmas Eve is celebrated in a big way – with music, fireworks, parties and everything, so the quiet of Christmas Eve in the United States seems depressing in comparison.

This year, since we can’t go to El Salvador, I decided to bring a little El Salvador to our house. This year, we’ll celebrate Christmas Eve, Salvadoran-style.

The tamales I usually make for Christmas, I’ll make one day early.

I bought a piñata and candies to fill it.

(The only thing is, the star-shaped piñatas are supposed to have seven points to represent the seven sins. This piñata has only six points, so I guess we get to keep one.)

I also made papel picado to give the house more ambiance.

I found some fireworks we didn’t use on Independence Day.

Even though Carlos and I exchanged gifts early, I bought him a little extra one so he has something to open.

The only thing now is, looking around my house, it makes me laugh. I had forgotten about a certain episode of I Love Lucy until now. Remember the one where Lucy tries to make their apartment look like Cuba for Ricky? (Except that it looked like Mexico, but anyway.)

When people said “love will make you crazy” – I never thought they meant clinically, but the proof is in the piñata hanging in my living room.

Loved that video!! I like your ideas of decorating the house. I will have to remember that for later. My husband also seems slightly depressed at Christmas and often calls home to hear how they are celebrating, where, and most importantly, what they are eating. From time to time we have other Latinos over or we go to visit them. I think its the hustle and bustle and noise of the crowd of like-minded people that he likes too. He keeps changing his mind, so the verdict is still out on where we’ll celebrate his way this year. The kids get my version with my extended family on Christmas Eve with their cousins. They’ll just be celebrating all day on the 24th, so that the time should pass quickly until Papa Nöel comes!!

Amanda, even if your husband doesn’t request it, I recommend giving it a try. If he’s anything like Carlos he’ll say things like, “don’t waste the money”, “don’t go to the trouble”, “it won’t be the same” – etc. Just do it… Carlos seems so much happier with the papel picado and piñata hanging in the living room. It’s had an almost magical effect.

I just wish we had a lot of people to invite over, (and enough money to feed them properly!) … Maybe some day when the kids are older and married with their own children, our Noche Buena will have a little more “hustle and bustle” as you say :)

So cool that you went through all the trouble for your hubby. We did a traditional noche buena as well, except with panes con pollo. I’m not brave enough to attempt tamales. Merry Christmas and thank you for sharing so much of your amazing life with all of us.

Tracy, I thought about you on New Year’s Eve when I went out to a tiendita to buy some essentials. They had queso from El Salvador. I took a picture you’ll be seeing on your wall.
It looks like you had a wonderful holiday, Amiga. Wishing you y tu familia un feliz y prospero año nuevo. Abrazos y te deseo mucha creatividad en el 2012. I’ll be back to my geeky Spanish Friday posts. Gracias por todo. You know what I’m talking about. : )))